By Jim Barber
With a potent sense of cinema, a flair for the gothic romantic, and an emotional intensity underpinning every performance, whether onstage or in a music video, American metal band Stitched Up Heart is on the leading edge of a charge of new bands who have embraced the music of their influences, but with a modern sense of urgency, boldly authentic lyricism that is deftly coupled with exceptional songcraft, cutting-edge production and aggressive confidence.
Created, fronted and inspired by the preternaturally talented and undeniably badass Alecia ‘Mixi’ Demner, the band is set to release its fourth full-length album, Medusa, later this year. It is an album that continues to highlight the way Demner and her bandmates are tapped into a seemingly otherworldly creative sixth sense that leads to the composing of songs that are not only filled with awe-inspiring riffs and intensely grand soundscapes, but also laden with hooks for miles.
If one is looking for a comparison, there’s a definite similarity between ‘Mixi’ and the famous comic book and now film character, Harley Quinn, where it’s part giggling teen and part demonic sociopath, which is not only reflected in her on-stage presentation, her performance in videos, and especially her vocal performances.
Demner has actually given the band’s style of music its own sub-genre – Cutesy Murder or Baddie Core, with the new album Medusa fulfilling that moniker wholeheartedly.
“With this record, I went in with the mindset of wanting it to be bouncy, fun, especially in live performance. I wanted people like four on the floor, to have fun and kind of like embrace the psycho inside of us; to embrace the shadow self if you will – our inner demons. I’m celebrating that and tell people don’t just pretend we don’t have the capability of being darker, of not always being angels. We need to embrace the little monster inside of us, or the little devil on your shoulder. You can’t push it away or ignore it: it’s part of you. I was thinking more about live performance this time, so I really want it to be just bouncy, with good vibes and cutesy – cutesy murder,” she said, her smile exemplifying her trademark combination of teeny bopper charm and vampiric menace.
Medusa, the band’s fourth full-length studio album, is coming out via Judge & Jury Records, which was started and managed by noted American producer Howard Benson and Neil Sanderson of Canadian rockers Three Days Grace. Demner said she and her bandmates have been very satisfied and inspired with this working relationship.
“We actually just went ahead and did the record and had decided we were going to do it ourselves, release it ourselves. So, we just did it. We just went into the studio, recorded it and put it aside for like a month and just pumped out a couple of singles. Then we found this awesome label Judge & Jury. I had done a feature vocal on a song for the band Dead Rabbitts, who are on that label, and I saw how they worked. I saw how passionate, how driven, how amazing they are. It’s like a big group family effort,” she said, adding that what appealed to the band was the combination of love for music, wanting the bands to control their own creative destinies, but also experience and epic amounts of music industry savvy.
“That’s exactly it, they’re not just suits. They’re not just here for the bottom line. They actually care about the art, the songs, the music. They feel the song as a whole. They understand the artist a little more being the artists that they are. But they are also very business savvy understand everything algorithmically. They’re very intelligent when it comes to all that stuff. So, it’s just been a really cool breath of fresh air with the team at Judge & Jury for sure.”
The expression ‘wise beyond their years’ is a bit trite and overused, but for the accumulated wisdom and knowledge of the good, bad and ugly of the music business accrued over a decade and a half, the phrase is completely appropriate to apply to Demner. The California native spent her late teens and early 20s taking each one of the experiences to heart, learning what she can from each recording session, each change in band member, each show, each tour, each interaction with fans, promoters, managers and labels. Possessed of a deftly analytical nature, Demner learned to parse the language of the music industry, learned who to trust, how to navigate the hurdles and fickle nature of fortune applying this acquired knowledge to each aspect of her career. Already a confident individual, the precociousness of youth has been transformed into a solid business acumen, coupled with focus and discipline without shedding any of her innate sense of adventure or desire to spread fun to all within earshot. She has evolved, and grown, and continues to do so in a way that few veterans of the industry have been able to.
“Particularly with songwriting, there’s a lot that I’ve learned as we go. It’s like baby steps and picking up little ideas and new tools to take with you. I think I’ve homed in on the songwriting even more in recent years, even though it’s always been my forte. I started on an acoustic guitar and was just writing songs for my own sake and was always pretty good at it. It was adding the performance aspect that took a while where I felt comfortable going out in front of people, because I really am kind of an introvert. Since then, the writing has developed. I feel like I’ve been able to put the words, the lyrics that are coming through me into perspective more. I’ve learned to channel stuff that I feel is needed at the time, even if it means kind of stepping away from the formula and just trusting my instincts, moving away from worrying about what structure you’re supposed to do and more into like throwing pain in different directions onto the canvas – not being so predictable,” she explained.
“It’s important to still have something that’s familiar because people can’t really grasp something that’s too out there a lot of the time. But I do feel like the uniqueness that you bring to it is going to separate you from the AI of the world. For me, it’s been all about confidence. I remember some of the first songs, some of the first writing sessions I had with a label, with producers – I was terrified. I think I had a panic attack before one because it was this big time producer and I’m like this little train wreck. So, I’ve gotten a lot of confidence in knowing that it’s not always going to click and that’s okay. I’m going to come in with my subject, what I want to sing about, what I want the whole thing to be about, and either we vibe or we don’t vibe. And that’s really it. I’ve found some really good producers that I feel like I click really well with, and we just bounce off each other. This record Medusa was so easy and fun, and we just bounded off each other really naturally. Cameron Mizell and Evan McKeever were the guys, both out of Nashville/Atlanta guys. Cameron has done some pretty cool things with Sleeping with Sirens, May Fire, Woe Is Me, Machine Gun Kelly [and even Napanee, Ontario, Canada’s Avril Lavigne!] so he’s got the experience and the pedigree. Evan is this new, up-and-coming Nashville writer and he’s just brilliant. I had a lot of fun, and I was even able to bring my dog into the studio, so I had a studio dog. It was a very natural process, this record – it felt really authentic.”
The process itself, at its most fundamental, hasn’t changed all that much for Demner over the last decade or so, especially as she’s now working more closely with her partner in life and in music, guitarist Merritt Goodwin.
“Usually, I do start with a concept, or a word or phrase. And it often starts on a chorus. I kind of try to start with the hook because then once I know what the story is, then I can build the story up to the chorus. But then it sometimes feels like whatever the guitars are doing might change all that. Sometimes I’ll go in with an idea of what I want to sing about, and it completely changes by the end of it, so it can be a little unpredictable like that. But sometimes it just channels right through me and it feels like I am just spitting out words onto the screen basically. But I do like to go in with at least a couple of ideas first and some melodies maybe, but I never seem to pull from those. I just always end up winging it,” she said, adding that besides her husband, most of the collaboration happens alongside the producer of choice.
“My husband, he likes to write by himself. He likes to write in his dungeon alone in the darkness. So, I let him do his thing and I’ll take the music and add some stuff over top of it. And then we’ll go into the studio with the producer that we chose to work with who basically adds another dynamic, almost like another band member. We just know the vibe we want with it, so we go with a certain person who we think fits that vibe. Then they bring their style to whatever we did and sometimes that means starting from scratch but sometimes works out better. I personally love just being right there, right in the studio, singing as it comes out, without too much prep, because the vibe changes day to day. My brain is in a different place as the days go, so whatever is meant to come out that this is coming out that day.”
The album’s title Medusa is one loaded with classical imagery as it reflects back to one of the great characters and stories of ancient mythology, a character that has actually been mischaracterized, misinterpreted and misunderstood particularly in pop culture references [for example, both versions of Clash of the Titans], for centuries. Taking a deeper dive into the character, a Gorgon whose appearance turns people into stone, Demner instead built upon the lesser known, but empirically researched and academically grounded interpretation of the story to create a more sympathetic, more nuanced, more accessible and relevant take on the story.
“It really depends on which lore you’re going to go by, right? You can believe that she’s the monster. You can believe that she was the one that was cursed because of the monsters who made her to look like a monster. It feels like a lot of art has been channelling this goddess, and I think that we do channel the same thing. There’s something about her in this time that, maybe I’m speaking from somewhere in my subconscious, but she was actually a very beautiful woman who was basically screwed over by the big gods Athena and Poseidon and then she was cast down and cursed and made to look like a monster. Then the ‘hero’ Perseus came along and just chopped off her head in her sleep. If you think of it, that’s pretty messed up. I feel like people need to know that story of Medusa because I don’t think all the stories that have been told are the real stories, because doesn’t the hero or the winners always write the history? In a lot of things, I’ve been turning everything in history around lately, looking at it from the point of view of establishing and celebrating the matriarchy,” she explained.
“We always look at that stuff and think, ha, it never really happened. It’s all just stories they told us. There’s no way that was an actual real story. Or was it? I like to imagine that it could have been real and we’re just pretending it’s fake. That makes it more exciting to me anyway.”
The theme of re-examining so called ‘classic’ or ‘traditional’ myths, stories and narratives is essential to our growth as individuals, as well as the collective evolution of humanity. Changing the power dynamic of the current society, even within the context of art, is part of that, and has become a powerful thematic element in Stitched Up Heart’s music, particularly the most recent single/video, the beautifully bloody, bodacious and voraciously badass ‘Cannibal,’ which features one of Demner’s musical heroes, Heidi Shepherd of The Butcher Babies, sharing vocal duties and screen time.
“It’s curious because I am tapping into the energies around that song because it’s a very touchy subject right now. It’s a really interesting song to perform live as well. I see the people that understand where I’m coming from and I see people are also just having fun with it and aren’t focusing on the change in the power dynamic between men and women that we have in the song and especially the video. That’s really what it comes down. You can make a statement, and some people will take that to heart, but you know, don’t get too serious either. We’re all just having a good time on this earth. We’re all trying to make the best out of life. I do think art speaks for itself and can have different levels of meaning. We are just the messengers. The song is a vessel for all of that and I’m just singing my heart out,” she said, as she talked about how inspirational Shepherd and the Butcher Babies are, not only for helping to carve a path in the music industry, but for also being willing to use their platform and creativity to also be brash in upsetting conventional ideas and taking boldly non-conformist perspectives on things.
“I was at the Butcher Babies’ very first show ever. I remember, actually, I think I got drunk that night and asked to be in her band. I love that band so much. So ‘Cannibal’ is as close as I got to being in the Butcher Babies with doing this feature together. We’ve been watching each other grow from the sidelines as we’ve gone through this industry, which hasn’t been easy for women in metal. It is really nice to see the industry kind of welcoming more women in, so Heidi and I have seen each other fight really hard through it together, and we recognize, and we respect that. We’re always cheering each other on, so she’s like this cool sister that I kind of get to hang with.
“In some ways, I think it’s the best time in the world to be in metal as a female. I think that people are a more open to accepting it. I think people are a little more open to accepting heavier genre music in general and the metal community is getting used to women coming up on stage and screaming at them. I do believe we are stepping stones along that path. But it is an evolution, and I do see progress from what it was when I first started. But obviously it’s nowhere near where it should be. I think a lot of the time we are pitted against each other in the industry without purposefully pitting us against each other in real life. It’s an artificial competition. It’s like there’s only allowed so many women artists on a radio station at the same time. There’s only allowed so many women on a festival at the same time. God forbid we have more than five women out of 150 bands. I do think there’s still a lot of work to be done. And it’s like an unspoken unfairness. It’s become ingrained in the thinking of so many people in the industry. I feel like it shouldn’t be the way it is, but sometimes I don’t feel I can do much about it, because I’m just another girl trying to fight for women. I feel like I’m screaming into the void. So, yeah, dudes, you need to move over and let the ladies in. Let some bitches on some festival slots – come on!”
Demner said that in terms of the seedier, creepier side of being a young woman in the music industry, more trouble has come from so-called fans, than from people she’s had to deal with from the business side of the music industry.
“As far as the actual business goes, the people I work with have always been really respectful. I’ve been lucky enough not to work with or tour with anyone that was like, super abrasive, or super awful in any way. Maybe I lucked out in that aspect, however some of the fans have gotten to a point where I can’t go out to the merch table anymore because people are sending me death threats, or people are crowding in close and licking my ear and stuff. It’s not only disrespectful and gross, it’s become unsafe. So, unfortunately for some of the people I do want to go out and say hi to, those men that do those disrespectful things have destroyed it for everybody. So now I can’t go out and say hi to those little girls that are waiting to see me after the show, because I don’t want to get stabbed,” she said.
Demner understands from her own experience, how important it is for young women, even young girls, who aspire to becoming musicians and songwriters, to see someone in a position of influence, who has cultivated and controls their own career as a beacon or at least a roadmap for their creative aspirations. And this goes for any young woman who wants to be part of the music industry – even behind the scenes.
“At times half our crew are girls. We have a merch girl. We have another girl, Jules, I call her my emotional support human, who’s helping with social media and hanging around me and even helping load in and out. We’ve got the drummer girl [Delaney Jaster]. When we were looking at drummers, we didn’t even really think about the sex of the drummer, but we just saw this kid crushing it and hired her. She’s just annihilating the kit. I was just blown away when I first saw her. So, we were like, ‘hey, you want to come out.’ And that’s exactly how it happened. When I find girls, sometimes a lot of girls, I feel who are kind of wasting their lives doing crap jobs, and who I feel they have some potential to maybe do something more exciting, I invite them to come on the road. It’s like, ‘hey, you want to come out with me for a tour and see if this is your vibe? Is this something you might want to do with your life?’ I know the industry always needs a lot of crew. If I see something in someone, I’m like, ‘you want to try a job, a shitty job that doesn’t pay well, but where, if you stick with it, you’ll soon be getting paid more than us?’ she said.
“In a lot of ways, I’ve turned into kind of a therapist for a lot of these kids. They’re mostly grown ups now, but I feel like they started out as kids, and I walked them through the dark stuff. I do things like have Zoom hangouts with fans through Patreon and kind of have like a little community there that I’ve really gotten to know because you can really get to connect and know someone when you talk to them once a month or once a week. I’ve helped people through some stuff somehow, even though, you know I’m not a certified anything, but I do have my life experiences and in a lot of cases I can definitely help with what not to do. And sometimes when I am talking to these girls, or anyone who asks for advice, I have to admit that I don’t know how the hell I did what I did, but I did it. And I feel like the more that I keep hanging in there and doing what I need to do, and working hard and moving forward, the more really cool stuff happens, like going out on tour with Sebastian Bach! [Stitched Up Heart is currently on tour opening for the former Skid Row frontman] I think talking about stuff that doesn’t get spoken about is always a good place to start. Usually if it’s scary to talk about, then that’s something we should probably talk about.”
Demner was fortunate to have grown up in an era where there were a host of strong, artistically significant, wildly successful and independent of mind women artists as inspirations. Two of her biggest early heroes just happen to also be Canadian – Avril Lavigne and Alanis Morissette.
“I was about the same age as Avril Lavigne when I started so she was definitely an inspiration in terms of female rebellion and making your own music, as well as Alanis and Gwen Stefani. With Gwen and No Doubt she was one of the few females doing that kind of stuff, that skater punk thing, at that time. So it was cool to see her up there. I think that was subconsciously inspiring to a lot of my generation of women in music. She had a big role to play for sure,” Demner said.
“You know what’s funny about Alanis Morissette? I did a feature vocal for this band called Pistols at Dawn, and they did a cover of Alanis’ ‘Uninvited’ and they wanted me to feature on it. So I sang it, and tried to do her justice, but you know with Alanis – that girl’s got voice – she can sing. And I tried. She ended up hearing the song and I guess she liked it. I’m friends with a couple of people that are friends with her and I was like, ‘oh my God she heard my version and she liked it?!’ So that was pretty amazing.”
Returning to the subject of the video for ‘Cannibal,’ Demner said she was heavily involved in all aspects of the production and filming.
“I did a lot of the art department stuff. I made our aprons and put all the fake blood on them. We used strawberry syrup, like you’d put on ice cream. We used that because I wanted it to be cutesy food, and so we also got cupcakes with red. It was around Valentine’s Day that we all got together to do the video. I picked out this this cool little space in Los Angeles, where they had these creepy little rooms already decorated. I thought it looked cutesy and kind of cannibal-y – like evil, dark, cutesy. And I then I painted the Nerf gun, which I actually got from this PR guy. I painted it pink, because it needed to be pink for the video, but I was so happy because I finally had a reason to use a Nerf gun. I also got a replica of the ‘Lucille’ bat from The Walking Dead, because Merritt, my husband, he’s working for Bear McCreary who does the music for The Walking Dead, so I felt like that was a cool little Easter egg. And there’s also one scene that got taken out of the music video that we really wanted to be in it where [bassist] Randy [Mathias] gets killed with an eggplant. Heidi kills Randy with an eggplant but I guess that didn’t make the cut, but I really wish that it did. We just wanted to have fun with this video. We wanted to use weapons that wouldn’t get flagged on socials, and apparently eggplant, a baseball bat and giant pink guns are okay?”
Merritt has been in Mixi and the band’s life since 2012, while Mathias joined in 2014, making for a pretty solid and steady core lineup for the past decade, after cycling through nearly 10 other musicians. Drummer Delaney Jaster has been in the band less than a year, and not only adds youthful energy, but also balances out the gender mix in the band.
“We’re lucky now because I think we’re all pretty dedicated. We just got a new drummer and she’s amazing. She’s just destined for greatness, and our job is not to hold on to her, but to help her excel in her career and her life so that at some point she’s going to be poached by all the cool kids. Basically, I want to tell her ‘fly, little birdy, fly’ and go on to bigger and better things. I think that’s become our role, like what I was saying about our crew and the people around us – we help get them to their next place. We help them to level up. We’ve hired a lot of crew, like guitar players for tours and stuff, and almost all of them are now getting paid like 10 times more than us at this point, because they’re doing arenas. I think that’s what this little band’s job is to do, to get people into the industry with some experience and some savvy,” Demner said.
As awesome and visceral an experience it is to hear Stitched Up Heart through your speakers or ear buds, and when cranked up – my goodness what a ride – but this is a band that just screams (both literally and figuratively) to be enjoyed through all the senses in a live music venue. As mentioned above, Demner and her bandmates are winding their way through the United States, opening for another Canadian – former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach. The Zoom call for this interview was conducted on a rare day off.
“I think we’re on our way to New Hampshire. We just stopped at a Planet Fitness, and then also got a new tire and got propane and stuff, which has been super fun [sarcasm!] Days off are never actually days off. They always involve all kinds of things, like I haven’t done my laundry yet on this tour, so it’s time for that. It’s not all glamour for sure, but we’ve got to love it for some reason because we still keep doing it. I guess I must like it,” she said, adding that it’s been an enlightening and positive experience opening for someone whose fans are of a different generation, and in venues that aren’t normally conducive to the energetic engagement usually happening at Stitched Up Heart shows.
“Oh my God, he’s a legend. I have to pinch myself sometimes. Yesterday we were in the RV and I could hear him playing ‘I Remember You’ and I was sitting there listening to and from the RV and was like, ‘I can’t believe we’re on tour with this guy.’ It just doesn’t feel real. And it’s definitely a different audience. It’s really hard to get a mosh pit going, I will say that. Although, honestly, I wouldn’t even go into the pit anymore. Sometimes I do it just to get people rowdy, but it’s not the tour for that, I’ll be honest. Most of the venues are theatre seating, so there’s seats all the way up to the stage so it’s pretty hard for people to mosh in that, even if they wanted to. So, we actually cut one of our mosh pit songs because I thought, ‘we don’t need anybody getting hurt.’ Let’s just have fun, folks can sit down, have a sip of wine and have a good time.”
For more information on touring plans, new music and Medusa, visit https://stitchedupheart.org.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, Ontario, Canada, who has been writing about music and musicians for more than 30 years. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he works as a communications and marketing specialist and is an avid volunteer in his community. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
